Matraca Berg made the biggest decision of her life while she was still a kid. The 2004 Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame nominee was a high-school student in Music City when she decided she was going to devote her life to writing songs and singing. “I knew I wasn’t going to college, so I just decided I was going to get going on this as soon as I could,” she recalls. “I just knew I had to get out there and DO it. And I knew that this was the only thing I wanted to do – there was never any question in my mind.” The fact that only a miniscule number of songwriters actually get to practice their craft successfully didn’t faze her: “I think it was just youthful exuberance and fearlessness,” she says of her decision. The result of that choice was that Matraca Berg had her first No. 1 record as a songwriter at age 18. That, in turn, has qualified her to become one of the youngest Hall of Fame nominees in history: To be eligible, a writer must have first achieved prominence at least 25 years ago. That first hit was “Faking Love,” as sung by T.G. Sheppard and Karen Brooks. In the years since, Berg’s songs have practically become the soundtrack of contemporary Nashville. Reba McEntire’s “The Last One to Know” (1987), Patty Loveless’ “I’m That Kind of Girl”(1991), Trisha Yearwood’s “Wrong Side of Memphis” (1992), Martina McBride’s “Wild Angels “(1996), the Dixie Chicks’ “If I Fall You’re Going Down With Me” (2001) and more than 50 other recordings of her songs have made her one of the most recorded composers in Music City. Matraca Berg’s songs have been sung by Randy Travis, Faith Hill, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Linda Ronstadt, Tanya Tucker, Pam Tillis, Keith Urban, Dusty Springfield, Clint Black, Loretta Lynn and dozens of others. Her cowritten “Strawberry Wine,” as performed by Deana Carter, was named the Country Music Association’s Song of the Year in 1997. In addition, the songwriter issued three CDs in 1990-97, plus a 1999 compilation, that have brought her wide acclaim as a performer. She and fellow Nashville songwriter Marshall Chapman provided the songs for the 2000 theatrical production Good Ol’ Girls, which continues to be staged by regional repertory companies. As a backup vocalist she has recorded with Kris Kristofferson, Neil Young and many others. She appeared in the 1987 motion picture Made In Heaven and on the soundtrack of 1993’s The Thing Called Love. And in 2004, she added “producer” to her list of accomplishments by guiding the disc debut of Sony newcomer Christy Sutherland. “Making records has done more for my career than anything, I think. It raised my profile as a writer like nothing else. It was because of my records that Trisha and Martina and Faith and everyone recorded my songs. But none of my records was exactly like I wanted them to be. There would be a few shining moments here and there. Now I want to make something that is absolutely, without a doubt, me. And I think I do know exactly what I want to sound like.” Matraca is in the studio working on that very record and is excited to bring you updates on the new music throughout the summer.